Chapter 81 Xu Yi’s work
Xu Yi brought Kennard on his first job. It wasn’t researching Magic Arrays, going to the magic machine workshop to conduct research, nor was it going to work at the factory, rather he brought him to a large piece of farmland outside the city.
Right now it was the fall harvest and Banta City wasn’t an exception, as the fall harvest began just like last year.
But it wasn’t like last year where everyone had to come out to work on the farmland. Because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines had become popular and with the farmer support plan, many normal farmers had agricultural magic machines. So the fall harvest was mainly left to the agricultural magic machines to finish and it didn’t take that much manpower. It didn’t delay the city renovation plan and the efficiency was much higher than before.
Xu Yi brought Kennard to a baron’s territory to the north of the city. When the two of them arrived, there were several dozen small Magic Harvesters quickly moving across the farmland in the territory.
In just the blink of an eye, a large patch of the dense wheat in the field had been cut down and there were many bags of packed wheat on the side.
“Hey, Baron Nazr, it seems like you’ll be able to finish the harvest by today?” Xu Yi came to a middle aged man of around forty by the side of the field and greeted him.
Baron Nazr turned to look at Xu Yi and the smile on his face became even brighter. He said with a nod, “That’s right, it seems like it won’t be a problem to finish the harvest today. Luckily we had the help of the agricultural magic machines from chairman Xu’s company. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to finish even if I had several hundred more people.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile and accepted Baron Nazr’s praise without any politeness. He looked at the Magic Harvesters moving through the field and asked, “Are there any problems with the machines?”
“No problems at all.” Baron Nazr shook his head, “Then again, even if there are small problems, with chairman Cantona and his helpers here, they can solve it themselves.” After pausing, Baron Nazr asked in a surprised voice, “Chairman Xu, why did you suddenly come here? And these two are…..”
Baron Nazr’s eyes fell onto Kennard and Sophia who were looking over the fields and Xu Yi explained, “These two are friends of Baron Hannas and they came here together with him from Anvilmar City to play. I came this time because I have something to discuss with chairman Cantona.”
“Is it related to him bringing people to other cities to help with their harvests?”
“Un, he is bringing all those agricultural magic machines away from the city, so there are many things to pay attention to that I have to remind him of.”
Baron Nazr couldn’t help saying, “You can just send someone else to contact him about this, there’s no need for you to personally come.”
“There are quite a few things to take note of, so they might not be able to explain everything.” Xu Yi shook his head.
“There’s no need for you to come here. You can just contact him and have him come find you. You are the chairman of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there’s no need for you to personally handle this small matter.” Baron Nazr didn’t seem to approve of Xu Yi’s actions.
Xu Yi gave a shrug and said with a faint smile, “The customers are gods. Since chairman Cantona purchased products from our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, then our company has to provide service to him. No one is an exception to this, even the chairman like me.”
“Alright, chairman Xu, I have also bought many products from your company and I am also your customer, so am I also a god? Speaking of this, can I call you to my house for a service call at any time?” Baron Nazr said with a smile.
Of course Xu Yi knew that Baron Nazr was joking, so he replied with a faint smile, “It’s a real pity Baron Nazr, our company divides post sale service based on scale. There are few things that require the chairman like me to personally head out, so I’m afraid you won’t have that chance.”
Baron Nazr laughed before pointing at a field in front and saying, “Alright, go and find chairman Cantona. He’s over there.”
Xu Yi nodded before turning back to Kennard and asking, “Do you want to listen to my conversation with chairman Cantona?”
Kennard shook his head, “The matter you’re discussing will involve secrets of your company, so I won’t come with you.”
“There’s no secrets, but it’s fine if you don’t come. The field is rather dirty and while it’s fine for the two of us, young miss Sophia might not want to go.” Xu Yi nodded before heading off in the direction Baron Nazr pointed out.
After Xu Yi left, there were only Baron Nazr, Kennard, and Sophia standing by the field.
Baron Nazr looked over the two of them curiously.
Xu Yi said that these two people were Baron Hannas’ friends, but Baron Hannas wasn’t here, so why were the two of them following Xu Yi?”
Noticing Baron Nazr looking at them, Kennard looked away from the Magic Harvesters moving in the field and nodded to Baron Nazr with a faint smile. He gave a simple introduction before pointing to Xu Yi talking to a person that looked like a farmer and asked, “Lord Baron, does chairman Xu normally personally handle these matters?”
Baron Nazr shook his head, “You heard what he said just now, there aren’t many things that he personally needs to handle. There are too many things the Frestech Chamber of Commerce needs to do now, if he were to personally handle each matter, even ten of him wouldn’t be enough to keep up.”
Kennard nodded before asking, “Then can you tell me, what does this chairman Cantona do? Why does chairman Xu have to personally come and meet him for this matter?”
Baron Nazr looked at Kennard in surprise, not understanding why he was interested in this matter. But thinking about it, he still answered.
“Cantona…..Actually he was just a normal farmer from a village outside the city, but he earned a bit of money from participating in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s farmer support plan last year. Then he united a bunch of farmers that had participated in this plan and owned agricultural magic machines into a single company, specializing in harvesting fields for people.”
“Then this Cantona must have quite the mind for business.” Kennard praised.
“Hei, this fellow’s mind is quite nimble, he’s not like a normal farmer.” Baron Nazr said with a nod, “As for why chairman Xu personally came here…..It’s just like chairman Xu said, there are too many things to pay attention to and other people wouldn’t be able to describe it clearly. Then again, chairman Xu was the one who gave Cantona the idea of going to other cities to help with the harvest, so chairman Xu puts a bit of importance in this matter.”
“It was chairman Xu who suggested that they take agricultural magic machines to other cities to help with the harvest?” Kennard was a bit surprised, “I thought that this chairman Cantona thought of it himself, I was actually admiring him for having such good thoughts.”
Baron Nazr laughed, “I’ve said before that Cantona is just a normal farmer, him being able to unite the farmers together into a company is already good enough, how could he have thought this far ahead. Before he just wanted to do business in our Banta City and the nearby Karma City and Saltan City, but chairman Xu reminded him that he could have even more business if he headed to further cities, so he made this decision. If we’re comparing farsight, how could he compare to chairman Xu?”
Kennard couldn’t help asking, “Lord Baron, you seem to admire chairman Xu very much?”
“Of course.” Baron Nazr had a natural look on his face, “Chairman Xu has established the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for just over a year now and has developed the Frestech Chamber of Commerce into such a powerful company, he’s very powerful just based on this. Moreover, it is because of him that such large changes have happened in our Banta City in just a year and many people’s lives have become much better. I wouldn’t understand too much if you asked me, but if you asked the farmers outside Banta City, I guarantee that they will all worship chairman Xu. For example, if you were to ask Cantona, do you believe that he would praise Xu Yi into the sky?”
Kennard gave a soft nod. He looked at Xu Yi talking to Cantona in the distance as he narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
Even Sophia on the side couldn’t help taking a few glances at Xu Yi. But after looking for a while, she gave a snort and turned her head, looking in another direction.
After around twenty minutes, Xu Yi came back.
After saying goodbye to Baron Nazr, he left with Kennard and Sophia, taking the horse carriage back to Sandton Manor.
When Xu Yi had just arrived, the chairman of the small companies of the Sandton Manor’s industrial sector came in. They came to discuss the possibility of expanding production with Xu Yi, preparing to buy some more magic production machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Naturally this wasn’t a difficult matter. Xu Yi asked them to present their last month’s sale and output numbers and when he learned that they had large orders, he agreed to their requests.
But as for the chairmen who asked to produce more than one kind of component, wanting the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to provide them the magic machines and training to do so, Xu YI rejected them.
“There is a phrase from my hometown, it’s called biting off more than you can chew. From what I can see, although the quality of the parts your companies produce isn’t bad, just reaching the standard, there are many places where it can be improved. For example, the bearing disc that chairman Geta’s company produces, although it can be used, the size of the hole inside each disc is not consistent. Last time I held an examination, the largest margin of error was three millimeters.” Xu Yi seriously said.
Chairman Geta who had been called out by Xu Yi scratched his head and awkwardly said, “I’ll tell the workers to pay attention when I head back.”
Xu Yi nodded, “Paying attention to improving the level of the part you make is more important than producing another part. You should be clear that the parts with higher quality will receive more orders, even receiving a higher price. Chairman Geta, if the margin of error for the bearing discs that your company makes can reach one millimeter, then when our Frestech Chamber of Commerce buys from you, we’re willing to increase the base price by another silver coin.”
Chairman Geta’s eyes lit up, “Really?”
Xu Yi looked at him with a smile and didn’t respond.
Chairman Geta slapped himself and spat out, “Pei, when has chairman Xu not kept his words, I’m speaking nonsense. Alright, chairman Xu, since you’ve agreed to this, I will work hard on researching when I get back. I will definitely get the margin of error to one millimeter and satisfy your needs!”
Xu Yi nodded with a smile, “I’ll be waiting for your good news.”
Seeing Xu Yi agree with chairman Geta, the other small company chairmen didn’t want to fall behind and all made the same request of Xu Yi.
Naturally Xu Yi didn’t reject them.
As long as these small companies could raise their level in producing these components, he wouldn’t mind raising the price a bit.
The more important thing was that he hoped to invoke a competitive atmosphere between these small companies, allowing them to put in all their effort into increasing their level.
For an industrial system, the technological level of producing components was just as important or even more important than materials.
Especially at a stage where high precision CNC routers hadn’t appeared yet.
[TL Note: CNC routers are computer controlled cutting machines.]
Chapter 82 Aloof Walmart Chamber of Commerce
Kennard and Sophia returned to the residence that Baron Hannas had prepared for them at night and they felt incomparably tired.
Kennard was alright, but when Sophia removed her shoes, her feet were a bit swollen.
Seeing the feet that had increased by a size, Sophia couldn’t help complaining, “This Xu Yi wouldn’t be doing this to us on purpose, right? He ran all around for a day and he didn’t rest at all, even discussing business during meals, isn’t he tired?”
Although Kennard felt tired, he was still better than Sophia. He sat down beside her and said with a faint smile, “This isn’t strange, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce developed this quickly is mainly because of Xu Yi. For him to be this busy, it’s quite easy to imagine.”
“Isn’t this too exaggerated?” Sophia muttered, “I don’t believe that he is like this every day, so busy that he isn’t even able to eat properly. If it really is like this, I think he’ll die from exhaustion eventually.”
“I think you’re exaggerating too much.” Kennard tapped Sophia’s head with a smile, “Chairman Xu seems to pay attention to exercising, so he’s full of energy, how could he die from exhaustion so easily? Other than that, didn’t you think it was very interesting following him around today? Not only did we hear something interesting like ‘the customers are gods’, we’ve also learned about ‘millimeters’. Other than that, we’ve met all kinds of people and have learned how to solve all kinds of problems. I feel that I’ve learned more today than an entire month in Anvilmar City.”
“Humph, only you feel that way. I only came along just to see the legendary elves, but I didn’t see a single elf today. So today didn’t have any meaning to me at all!” Sophia pursed her lips and said this.
“Relax. Didn’t chairman Xu say that the hundred elves have been sent to live in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s Falling Rain Valley production base? He will go to the Falling Rain Valley eventually, you’ll definitely be able to see them if you follow him.” Kennard comforted her.
“I’ll go when he goes to the Falling Rain Valley. I won’t follow him starting tomorrow, I’m tired just from a single day.” Sophia laid down on the bed and looked like she was too tired to move.
Seeing his little sister show this weary form that she wouldn’t show in front of outsiders, Kennard couldn’t help shaking his head with a smile. Then he looked down at the ground.
In the living room downstairs, Hank Wilson was currently discussing something with Xu Yi.
“Chairman Xu, I’m representing our Walmart Chamber of Commerce to discuss the possibility of cooperation with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, what does chairman Xu think about this?” Hank Wilson asked.
Xu Yi gave a slight nod, “The Walmart Chamber of Commerce is one of the biggest companies in our Lampuri Kingdom, for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce to catch your eye and want to cooperate with us, it really is our honour. Only, How are you planning to cooperate with us?”
“I think chairman Xu should know that our Walmart Chamber of Commerce has always dealt in groceries and we currently have the largest grocery stores set up in every city of the kingdom, which includes all kinds of products. This time, we want to cooperate with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce in hopes of having your company’s magic machines appear in our stores. What does chairman Xu think about that?”
Xu Yi thought for a bit before asking, “This means that your Walmart Chamber of Commerce is planning to buy the household magic machines that our Frestech Chamber of Commerce produces and sell them in the stores under your name? The method of handling this will be like the other products of your store, is that your meaning?”
“Right, that is what I mean.” Hank said with a smile, “Chairman Xu, if I may be direct, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce hasn’t been established for long and you don’t have distribution channels that belong to you in other parts of the kingdom. I can proudly say that our Walmart Chamber of Commerce has the most perfect distribution channels in all of the kingdom, not missing a single one. If you choose to cooperate with our Walmart Chamber of Commerce, I can guarantee that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s products will appear in every city of the kingdom within the shortest amount of time. I think like this, your sales volume will greatly increase, don’t you think so?”
“It’s very correct.” Xu Yi nodded, “The biggest headache for me right now is indeed distribution channels. The markets of Banta City and the surrounding cities are becoming saturated and the sales volume of our company’s household magic machines have been dropping. I’m currently working hard on a way to solve this problem and have considered the possibility of working with your company, but I never thought that our small company would catch your eyes, so I gave up on this possibility. I never thought that you would take the initiative to come to me.”
Hank laughed before waving his hand and saying, “Chairman Xu, you don’t need to be this modest. Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is currently very famous in the kingdom and even his majesty has praised your company, so how could you not catch the eyes of our Walmart Chamber of Commerce?” After pausing, he then added, “That means that chairman Xu agrees to cooperating with us?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I agree to something that benefits both of us?” Xu Yi said with a smile.
“Good, then I’ve brought a cooperation plan that chairman Xu can look over.” Seeing Xu Yi agree, Hank immediately took out a document from the bag beside him for Xu Yi.
Xu Yi took it and after seriously reading it, he knit his brows slightly.
This plan was indeed the Walmart Chamber of Commerce’s cooperation plan, but the model that was written on it made Xu Yi very dissatisfied.
According to the described plan, if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce chose to cooperate with the Walmart Chamber of Commerce, not only would they have to give priority to the Walmart Chamber of Commerce, they also had to give them a preferential price.
Although bulk purchases giving a preferential price was an unwritten rule of the market, what the Walmart Chamber of Commerce was asking for was too much.
They actually wanted the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to give them a 30% discount on their opening price!
This meant that with the price of a Variable Temperature Magic being thirty gold coins, if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce sold it to the Walmart Chamber of Commerce, the price would be twenty one gold coins! This was a difference of nine gold coins!
Even though it currently cost the Frestech Chamber of Commerce less than ten gold coins to produce and they would still be earning over ten gold coins in profit, this was suddenly cutting their profits in half, which Xu Yi could never accept.
Not to mention that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s currently produced household magic machines had such high profits because there wasn’t a competitor right now.
According to Xu Yi’s plan, there would be all kinds of magic machine companies that will appear in the Lampuri Kingdom like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, then the profit margin of the magic machines would be as low as on earth.
If they kept selling at 30% off, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would lose money!
Xu Yi put down the proposal and after considering it, he asked Hank, “Vice chairman Wilson, can I ask you something? Is this your final decision?”
Vice chairman Wilson shook his head, “Of course not. The so called proposal is just a plan right now. Chairman Xu, is there anything you’re not satisfied with? If there is, you can just tell me. The reason I can this time was just to negotiate with you.”
“Instead of asking me what I’m not satisfied with, you should ask me what I am satisfied with.” Xu Yi said without any politeness, “To be honest, vice chairman Wilson, I’m very dissatisfied with this proposal. I even think that based on this proposal, your Walmart Chamber of Commerce doesn’t have any sincerity in cooperating with our Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Vice chairman Wilson knit his brows, “Chairman Xu, why do you think this? Of course our Walmart Chamber of Commerce is sincere in cooperating with you. Otherwise I wouldn’t have specially come here, even bringing young master Kennard and young miss Sophia to visit.”
Xu Yi shook his head, “Let’s not mention why Kennard and young miss Sophia came, let’s just focus on this proposal. Vice chairman Wilson, do you understand what a discount of 30% means?”
Wilson revealed a look of understanding and said with a smile, “So chairman Xu isn’t satisfied with the price. That is simple, we can discuss this. Of course, our Walmart Chamber of Commerce has to earn money as well, so I hope that chairman Xu won’t be too excessive.”
“Excessive?” Xu Yi slightly knit his brows.
Actually he wasn’t most dissatisfied with the price or the priority clauses, rather this proposal from head to toe had the aloof attitude of the Walmart Chamber of Commerce.
Many lines in the proposal had the tone of an order, like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had to agree with them and there was no room for leeway at all.
Although from an objective analysis, the Walmart Chamber of Commerce was a first class company of the Lampuri Kingdom with the most powerful distribution network, for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that had no distribution channels for their magic machines, it was a very advantageous matter to cooperate with them. However, Xu Yi very much didn’t like this aloof tone and didn’t like cooperations where the other side held all the power.
“Alright, we can discuss the matter of the price later, but compared to the price, the partnership model is more of a problem.” Xu Yi said with a serious expression, “This proposal states that we have to fulfill the needs of the Walmart Chamber of Commerce first, which I disagree with. Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is not a factory under your Walmart Chamber of Commerce’s name, so the products we produce cannot be given to just your company. So I cannot agree to this clause.”
“But chairman Xu, according to what I know, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce only produces around several tens of thousands of household magic machines each month and our Walmart Chamber of Commerce supplies to customers of all of the kingdom’s cities. There is a need for hundreds of thousands of units and if your Frestech Chamber of Commerce doesn’t supply us first, we won’t be able to match the customers’ needs and not only will it affect the prestige of the Walmart Chamber of Commerce, it will also affect the customers’ trust in your Frestech Chamber of commerce. I think that you’re not willing to see this, right?” Wilson paused before saying with a sincere expression, “Chairman Xu, we can discuss the price, but as for giving us priority, there is no discussion.”
Xu Yi looked very sincere, but he didn’t fear Wilson at all. After thinking about it, he suddenly said with a smile, “If you’re worried about not satisfying the needs of the customers, I have a very good suggestion…..”